Pro Bono

Since 2008, over 7% of our total attorney billable time was contributed to pro bono.

The philosophy at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. is that everyone deserves equal access to our justice system, regardless of race, religious beliefs, nationality, or economic situation. We work hard to make this belief - this dream - a reality.

Click here to read our pro bono brochure.

Here are some examples of the work we do.

We represented eleven victims of human trafficking. The men were trafficked from India under false pretenses, and endured dangerous and unacceptable work and living conditions, including threats and beatings. Our clients sought visas as victims of human trafficking, but instead they were placed into removal proceedings. We helped two clients return to India and aided almost all the rest in ending removal proceedings and obtaining the necessary visas to work legally in the United States.
We represented an Ethiopian woman in an appeal to the Eighth Circuit in an asylum claim. We developed appellate arguments based on the client's past female genital mutilation (FGM) and her fear that her daughter, a United State citizen, would be subjected to FGM if forced to return to Ethiopia. While handling multiple appeal-related proceedings and briefings, we simultaneously helped our client petition for and obtain permanent resident status based on her marriage to an American citizen.
We obtained asylum for a Tibetan monk who had been imprisoned and repeatedly tortured after demonstrating against the government. After escaping Tibet on foot, our client sought asylum in the United States for his political and religious views. We defeated efforts to resettle our client in India and will now help our client reunite with the wife and children in Tibet.
We represented a man who was charged with driving while intoxicated in connection with an accident. Though inoxicated, he was not the driver. Despite the admission of the actual driver, the police pursued the case. Our client refused to take a plea that would have subjected him to jail time and sunstantial fines. One the first date of trial, the prosecutor dropped all charges against our client.
We represent an elderly homeowner who has been sued by a roofing company seeking to enforce a mechanic's lien. The roofing company installed a new roof after a tornado damaged her old roof. The workmanship was poor, and the homeowner did not pay the full amount of the bill. The roofing company filed a mechanic's lien and sued to enforce it.
We helped our client regain sole legal and physical custody of her four-year-old son, who was taken from her after a temporary custody order was issued at a hearing at which she had no legal representation.
Our attorneys represented numerous tenants in collections actions relating to housing court judgments against landlords for providing inadequately-maintained facilities.
Pro bono services from attorneys in our Minneapolis office have helped the Will for Heroes program serve more than 4,200 first responders within the state.
We helped a woman obtain a domestic violence restraining order after she suffered numerous instances of abuse at the hands of her boyfriend. With the significant evidence of abuse we gathered, we persuaded the court to issue a five year restraining order (the statutory maximum), grant our client sole legal and physical custody of her son and prohibit any visitation by the boyfriend. We also obtained a civil harassment order for our client's mother, who was being harassed by the boyfriend and his family.
Attorneys in the New York office represented an established New York City-based photographer whose photographs were leaked and mass produced after his licensing agency went bankrupt. Since taking on the case in 2010, our attorneys have stopped all known infringing web sites from unlawfully producing and selling our client's photographs through a series of targeted cease and desist letters. We have also begun the process of registering approximately 1,000 of the client's photographs with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Our Pro Bono Committee

Our firm’s Pro Bono Committee, headed by Anne Lockner, helps our attorneys find opportunities for pro bono work. The committee monitors the nature and extent of our pro bono services offered to the community, recognizes the many individuals who volunteer for pro bono work, and provides formal supervision and training for our firm lawyers.

Youth Law Initiative

The Youth Law Initiative is our firm-wide pro bono project devoted to safeguarding the legal rights of children and teens. Children can be victims of abuse, homelessness, neglect, or simply be facing a system they do no understand. They are often unrepresented when facing dramtic changes in their lives. Through the Youth Law Initiative, our attorneys work to ensure the legal protection of children and teens while striving to protect their rights and dignity. Each office focuses on the needs of youth in their community.

Atlanta

Through the One Child, One Lawyer program, attorneys in the Atlanta office represented a toddler who was removed from his mother's home and placed in foster care after the police raided the mother's home and discovered drugs. We helped the boy receive the services and therapies he needed while his mother went through the Drug Court program in Georgia. The mother stuck with the program and the boy was returned to her care in her rehabilitation facility under a protective order. After graduating from the Drug Court program, the mother was able to find a job, secure her own housing, and regain custody of her son. We also helped a great-grandmother gain permanent custody of her great-grandsons - an 18-month-old who had been in and out of foster care since birth and his newborn-brother, who tested positive for cocaine upon delivery.

Boston

Attorneys in the Boston office continued to advocate aggressively for children in need. In 2010, our Boston attorneys obtained further results in immigration proceedings for unaccompanied minors. For example, this past year they hit several milestones in their work towards establishing legal permanent residency for a young teenager who fled abuse and neflect in her native South American country. Our Boston lawyers continue to work on challenging cases from the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. The office also represents children with unmet legal needs in the areas of guardianship, special education and disciplinary matters in connection with the Volunteer Lawyers Project and the Children's Law Center of Massachusetts.

Los Angeles

With a focus on assisting those young adults who have, or are about to age out of the foster care system, attorneys and staff from the Los Angeles office continue to work with The Alliance for Children's Rights to aid and assist these foster care youth with various legal matters. As part of The Alliance's NextSTEP program, the office represents individuals with identity and credit theft problems, as well as provide legal services to secure social security and other public benefits, special education rights, and to finalize the necessary appointments of legal guardians. In addition, attorneys have provided educational clinics on basic contract, employment and tenant rights to individuals transitioning from foster care to independent living.

Minneapolis

Through the Minnesota Supreme Court's Guardian ad Litem program, Minneapolis attorneys represented the Guardian ad Litem for a ten-year-old boy with developmental disabilities in a termination-of-parental-rights case. His parents (who are divorced) severely neglected all of his basic and special needs. He had been removed from his home and placed with a loving foster family who wanted to adopt him, but the county refused to file a petition to terminate parental rights. Shortly after we were retained, however, the court ordered the county to file a petition. We entered the case with the county as the petitioner and our client in support of the petition. On the morning of trial, the boy's mother agreed to voluntarily terminate her parental rights, but the father refused. A skillful cross-examination of the father resulted in him admitting neglect and agreeing to terminate parental rights, freeing up the child to be adopted by the foster family.

Click on this link to read our full Community Service Report.

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